Iran, Indonesia hold talks on oil cooperation

Iran's Research Institute of Petroleum Industry (RIPI) has held talks with Indonesian officials over the revival of the Southeast Asian country's dead oil wells, says the head of the institute, Press TV reported.

The two sides discussed mutual cooperation during a visit to Iran last month by an Indonesian parliamentary delegation, Hamid Reza Katouzian further said on Friday.

During their stay, the Indonesian MPs called for the institute to assess the viability of reviving more than 1,000 dead oil wells in the country, he noted.

According to Katouzian, the Indonesian team also requested that the RIPI train the country's experts and establish an oil industry research center in the Southeast Asian nation.

"Preliminary talks have been held on cooperation between Iran's Research Institute of Petroleum Industry and Indonesia, but no final agreement has been reached yet," he said.

He pointed out that the Iranian research institute has also cooperated with Iraq and Sudan in the fields of training and upstream oil projects.

The RIPI is also working with European universities on oil industry research, he stated.

Indonesia was a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), but it dropped out of OPEC in 2009 after a steady decline in its production due to deficient infrastructure and paucity of investment.